cakap cakap...what now Pakatan Rakyat?

In this business of being a blogger I now know that I would have to take the good with the bad. The good? I get a kick just seeing my thoughts published by myself, on my blog and read by I, me and myself. Now I am already feeling high without any of you getting involved!

But then there is also the bad….not really that bad anymore because I have learned to roll with the punches…but there are times when I stop short…stop short because what I read from the comments sent makes me shake my head and smile at what people will do to get to me. I write about public figures that put themselves out there in front of us as good, decent and responsible leaders and then go out and do the exact opposites. They cheat, they lie, they fornicate…and still put up their hands to say, “I am a good boy!”. And then we hantam them! Now I am beginning to get what you call ‘hate mail’ on a regular basis….and far from getting me down I collect them as proof to myself that what I write gets even to those who will not agree with me – enough to make them sit down and tell me about it. I hope they will continue to read what I write too and ‘hear’ what I say! But I decided to moderate the comments coming in now because there is too much swearing and what they write are without merit for anybody to peruse.

And then there are those that put ideas into my head. Ideas and thoughts that were not within my thought process before…..or maybe it was lurking in the dark recesses of my mind but it needed that jiggle to get it out into the open. The Penans was one of those issues. My articles “Last of the Mohicans …The Penans” was the result of one of our friends jolting my consciousness about how badly treated they were by the loggers. It did me more good then anybody else because I did a lot of reading to bring me up to speed as to the situations the Penans were in.

And now I understand that the rights of the minority will need to be guarded by the majority. In Malaysia it is the responsibility of the Malays – the dominant race in terms of numbers and power – to take care of the others that also call Malaysia their home. This is one of the fundamental responsibilities that a civilized and matured society expects of its people to do – of its government to do. We are not animals where might is right. The Lion even kills the young cubs of the pride that he takes over so that he can father the next batch of lion cubs himself. What has been the norm for our UMNO dominated government is a deliberate policy of bringing in migrants that could later been designated as Bumiputra in order to ensure the continued dominance of the Malays in Malaysia. The idea is that in doing so UMNO will maintain the status quo of the Malays as the dominant race in terms of numbers and continue to whittle down the number of non-Malays. The rationale is that there will always be that critical mass of Malays to always maintain UMNO in power through their vote in every election.

In theory this looks workable –but there were some essential part of the equation that UMNO overlooked – their responsibility to look after the Malays before they looked after themselves. In not doing so UMNO has virtually signed their death warrant. Now not only have they started the process of having the Malays think what is to come after UMNO – but also turned the other races away from BN – and why not? Would you vote for a political party that works tirelessly to isolate you from sharing the wealth of your own country of choice?

When I see Chinese students in Adelaide I know from their chatter that they are from Malaysia. While in my London days many years ago – the immediate thing you do when you meet another Malaysian is to greet each other and talk about home – NOT anymore. These young Chinese Malaysian in Adelaide are not bothered about saying ‘Hello’ to another Malaysian – a Malay – because it is already drummed into their head that the Malays are not their ‘friends’. I see the Malays in Adelaide in groups by themselves – not mixing with the others. This race based groupings started in Malaysia due to the emphasis on race /ethnic based politics of the UMNO led government. It is being followed through when these student goes overseas.

What are we teaching these young Malaysian? To dislike, fear and avoid each other from such a young age? This is not the way to go. Not if we are to be one people. But to try and change this will take at least another generation of two – and that too if we start today. And yet we have our National Leaders hell bent in upholding Ketuanan Melayu – Mahyuddin did last week!

But I am not saying that it is only the BN government that is at fault. We, the Malays, Chinese, Indians and the others…..we too are at fault because we elected the government we now have. And ours is a democracy decided by elections – which to all intends and purposes are quite free – if not how could the opposition secure five states at the last elections! Yes it could be argued that if the election was ‘really free’ the opposition could have secured more votes – more states. But it is a start. BN can lose and they have lost in the past.

We have a few more years before the next General Elections. UMNO has never stopped ‘working’ to consolidate its losses at the last elections. It got rid of a Prime Minister they considered to be a liability. A Prime Minister mind you not just anybody! And they will get rid of Najib if he too becomes a liability!

What will PR do now to clean house? The people who voted them in have started to voice their discontent at how PR is managing their affairs. It is not acceptable to us that they continue to quarrel in public. It is not acceptable, especially after Perak, that PR is not able to stem the defections from its camps  - even if these defections are welcomed by PR because it is just good riddance of rubbish from within their ranks. It is not acceptable that there are rumblings within Selangor that PKR Selangor is not looking after its own.

Our demand is that PR solves these problems now before we see Najib doing a Perak on Selangor! We cannot tell PR leaders what they must do and how they must do it – but we can tell them if they do not do what they have to do then they will lose Selangor – they will our trust in their ability to manage themselves – and of course they will lose our votes at the next General Elections.

Of course it is PKR and PAS that are the problem areas – not DAP. Why? Well the Malays are still sorting themselves out. The remnants of their time in UMNO and with UMNO still linger around them. It cannot be shaken off unless one is determined to do so and willing to endure the painful withdrawal process that comes with trying to tread the path of the straight and narrow to good governance and decency. But they are running out of time because the people are running out of patience with these never ending problems within Pakatan Rakyat. Get on with the business of being the government in the states you control. Get rid of the opposition mentality! Rule and show us what you can deliver. If you do not we will vote you out!